Boy used chat room to get himself killed

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A 15-year-old British grammar school boy has been convicted of inciting an internet friend to murder him.

The boy, who can be identified only by the pseudonym John, invented a cast of characters in a chat room as part of a plan to commission his own murder. Some of his inspiration came from James Bond films and the science-fiction blockbuster Men In Black.

He was 14 when he fell in love with Mark, a boy two years older, and adopted the guise of a female secret service agent to order his friend to stab him in an alleyway.

Mark was meant to end his life with the words: "I love you, bro."

Mark carried out the stabbing in Altrincham, Cheshire, shortly before 8pm on June 29 last year. He knifed John in the chest and abdomen. The second blow cut into his kidney, liver and gall bladder, nearly killing him. Minutes later, Mark reported the attack on his mobile phone.

Police launched a manhunt after both boys told them a stranger in black had dragged John into the alleyway and stabbed him.

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It was only when officers studied CCTV footage that they realised the boys were lying.

Manchester Crown Court heard detectives studied 58,000 lines of internet text to break down the boys' account and show that John, who surfed the net for seven hours at a time, had spent six months manipulating Mark until he felt he was ready to commit murder.

It emerged that John had introduced himself to Mark on the internet as a teenage girl. Mark performed sexual acts for the girl on a webcam which John watched.

Later John introduced a series of other characters to the chat room, including a second girlfriend, a stalker and two secret service agents modelled on Bond films.

One of the agents, identified as Agent 47695, told Mark she had been assigned to protect John. Later she ordered Mark to kill the boy, promising him a gun, a large sum of money and a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a reward.

John, wearing a checked shirt, pale blue tie and dark trousers, sat crying in the dock as the bizarre story was told. Mark, in a blue and white jumper, sat a few feet away.

John pleaded guilty to inciting someone to murder him - a crime described by Judge David Maddison as "extraordinary" - and perverting the course of justice. John was sentenced to a three-year supervision order.

Mark admitted attempted murder and was given a two-year supervision order. The boys were also banned from contacting each other. John was ordered to use the internet only under supervision and told that he must never go into a chat room again.

Mr Clarke said: "The whole scheme John designed was to bring about his death. He was depressed, having fallen out with friends at school and having problems with his stepfather at home."

John's mother told the court he now had a wider circle of friends, including a girlfriend.